Turkey coach Fatih Terim predicted that there would be "no limit to success" for his team after they beat Croatia on penalties to book a semifinal berth at Euro 2008.
It was the third straight come-from-behind victory for the Turkish team. They scored a last-gasp equalizer in the last seconds of extra time to force the game into penalty shoot-out in which they prevailed.
Earlier in the group stage, the Turkish team also came back to beat co-hosts Switzerland 2-1 and the Czech Republic 3-2.
"I would like to congratulate the Croatia players and coach. They played well but that's football. You should never give up until the final whistle, that's what makes football interesting," Terim said.
"I congratulate my players, too. Both sides could have won. I think we should be proud and I still haven't been able to do any damage assessment."
"We seem to come back from the dead. We always do the hard thing, not the easy thing, which shows how good my team are. When you have footballers like this, you just don't lose," Terim said.
Croatia coach Slaven Bilic said the match was a good one. "I would like to congratulate everyone who took part in it. The game had an incredible ending, the kind you can only find in football," he said.
"Turkey have already shown they're able to do anything. Having one less rest day than Germany is a handicap and extra time and penalties are also exhausting. They have a number of injured players and suspensions, but some might come back and they won't give up," Bilic said.
Turkey will play Germany in the first semifinal match on June 25 in Basel. Germany advanced after beating Portugal 3-2 on Thursday.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article